Lest we forget.....
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/jun/04/newsstory.sport13Quote:
Liverpool fans stole from children, claims Uefa
Andrew Culf
The Guardian, Monday 4 June 2007
Liverpool reacted with anger last night after a senior Uefa official accused the Merseyside club's fans of having stolen from fellow supporters and "out of the hands of children".
William Gaillard, Uefa's director of communications, branded Liverpool supporters as the worst behaved in Europe after revealing that a detailed dossier compiled by undercover police officers blamed the English for the chaos at the Champions League final in Athens.
The accusations are likely to dominate tomorrow's meeting in Brussels between Richard Caborn, the sports minister, and Michel Platini, Uefa's new president. Caborn has already expressed sympathy with fans with tickets who were denied entry to the final, and demanded an explanation from Uefa.
Gaillard yesterday renewed his verbal onslaught: "The incidents involving Liverpool fans have been well known to us before the trouble at the Champions League final. This was just the latest example. What other set of fans steal tickets from their fellow supporters or out of the hands of children? We know who caused most of the trouble in Athens," he said. "There have been 25 incidents involving Liverpool fans away from home since 2003 and those are in the report - most teams' supporters do not cause any trouble at all."
But Liverpool, who sent Uefa a report criticising the organisation and security arrangements five days before the final, indicated that their warnings had gone unheeded. A club spokesman said: "The shortcomings in the management of the situation in Athens were apparent to anyone who was there and this latest statement from Uefa should not deflect attention from that reality."
Liverpool were allocated 17,000 tickets for the 63,800 capacity Olympic Stadium, which the club regarded as inadequate. Despite warnings not to travel without tickets, it is believed some 40,000 of their fans were in the Greek capital.
Politicians in the UK have backed the English club, criticising the organisation of the event. Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, said the Olympic Stadium was unsuited to staging such an important match and Simon Gass, the British ambassador to Greece, called for an investigation into the behaviour of the police.
Trouble erupted after fans with forged tickets - or no tickets at all - were allowed into the stadium after passing four security cordons. There were reports that tickets were snatched out of the hands of supporters and that some had gained entry by flourishing cigarette packets and photocopied press passes.
Less than an hour before kick-off, police stopped supporters, many of whom did have genuine tickets, for safety reasons because the ground was full. When some fans protested or tried to evade cordons, police responded with a baton charge and fired tear gas. Caborn's talks with Platini are also likely to cover a series of incidents at games involving English clubs in Europe over the past year, including claims by Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur that their supporters were indiscriminately attacked by police in Rome and Seville, respectively.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/apr/03/newsstory.sportQuote:
The witnesses
For players and fans, for the survivors and the relatives of the dead, for all those who thought they were going to a sporting contest and ended up in a war zone, memories of that night in May are still raw. Jamie Jackson heard their remarkable stories
Jamie Jackson
The Observer, Sunday 3 April 2005
The players
Paolo Rossi
Then: Juventus striker, 28
Now: Football pundit and former politician
I was lucky enough to feature in three World Cups for Italy, including the victorious 1982 team when I won the golden boot as top scorer. And, with Juventus, I won the Scudetto [Italian league], the Italian Cup and the European Cup-Winners' Cup. But I don't feel as if I won the European Cup, not that night against Liverpool.
When you talk about the death of people at a sporting event, the sport itself passes into the background. And sure, you always ask yourself why such things happen. But there are no easy answers.
How difficult was it to play in the game? Well, the players were not aware of the true dimensions of the disaster. Some people said there was only one person dead and, really, we did not have any comprehensive information . It was only after the game that we were told the awful truth. We had been forced to play. We had no choice. But I repeat, we had not been informed. If we had known the exact situation we, the players, maybe could have said something but we did not have the facts. When the game had finished and we had won, we were left to celebrate on the pitch and raise the Cup and that could have been avoided. In truth, there was total confusion and chaos.
There is no proper memorial at Juventus to the dead . No plaque, nothing. This is very strange. I have met many of the parents and relatives of the victims ; I try to keep them close to my heart and I have been to many memorial ceremonies. Now, again and again, my memory goes back to these 39 people who lost their lives. This is what I remember about that evening, certainly not playing the match. The Cup should be given back. Juventus should do that in respect to those who died.
Phil Neal
Then: Liverpool captain, 34
Now: Merseyside Radio commentator
I'd rather forget that night. It was an ordeal. But, Jamie, why should I help you out? I'm helping you pay your mortgage [by talking to you about Heysel]. When people ask me for my view, they usually have to pay for it. You're asking for my help for nothing. To pay your mortgage, Jamie. I mean, what do you want from me?
I just thought that as the captain of Liverpool football club on that night at Heysel it would be good to hear your view?
Yes but what do you want from me? If I talk to you for a few minutes, then I'm helping you pay your mortgage and what am I getting in return? Do you know what I mean?
Well, I have been to Italy and talked with some of the families of the victims and they say that the trophy should be given back by Juventus to commemorate what happened.
About Juventus? Why are you asking me? Why are you asking someone on the Liverpool side? Juventus made amends very soon. Ask them ... Jamie I'm helping you pay your mortgage. People who want my views pay.
I'm sorry, but everyone else I have spoken to has ...
Great. So you've spoken to people, you've got your views. You've got your Liverpool view, but if you want mine for free, well people pay for them.
Bruce Grobbelaar
Then: Liverpool Goalkeeper, 29
Now: Coaching in South Africa
The players knew about all of the events that night, including that people had died. We should never have played the game. Uefa insisted because they believed that the violence could have continued in the streets. But I certainly said I did not want to play.
After the match, I went on to the Juventus bus and said: 'I am sorry for what happened.' I was not, though, saying sorry because it was our fault. I also wished them the very best in the future because they had beaten us one-nil. The players received it very well and though [I believe] every football game matters, maybe it was fitting that Juventus won that match. As for the trophy itself, it should be donated, as a memorial to the dead.
I have since returned to Heysel and there is a stone plaque outside, on the wall. It has 39 gouges and says something to the effect that ' we will never forget'. But that is all. Inside there is not a single picture or anything to remember that evening, even though there is a history of the stadium there. The events have been swept under the carpet . [The Heysel ground was completely rebuilt as the King Baudouin stadium, though the name remains in use because it is in the Brussels suburb of Heysel.]
I do not know why that is. Someone should ask the Belgians. The whole thing stinks. And, if they caught people who were [alleged to be] responsible for the deaths [but did not pursue the prosecutions, allowing them home on bail having already once extradited them] well, that is wrong.
Another trophy could be made. It would be played for each year by Liverpool and Juventus to commemorate that evening. And the proceeds of the match could then go to the families of the bereaved.
Marco Tardelli
Then: Juventus midfielder, 30
Now: Recently sacked from post as coach of Egypt
Of all the honours I won at club and international level, I am not proud of the victory over Liverpool in the European Cup final in Brussels. That was a very bad evening. Really, it is a match to forget, although it is not easy to forget what happened. The game should not have been played, but that was not the players' decision. And once the match started, it was not easy to take part in it.
On the night, I did not comprehend events fully because I was in the dressing room. The players did know that there had been trouble in the stadium but not that so many people had died. Looking back, I believe it was a big mistake of the Belgian police not to open the fences [in Sector Z] and let people escape the crush.
After the match I did not return to Italy but went with the national team to Mexico. It was only there on television that I saw what had actually happened and I was shocked.
After the final, Bruce Grobbelaar came on to the Juventus team coach and apologised for the hooligans. But, really, it was not the fault of either Liverpool or Juventus.
Could this kind of incident ever happen again? Well, when terrible events occur it only seems to be later that we decide they could have been avoided. So really you cannot know. But I hope they do not.
Alan Kennedy
Then: Liverpool left-back, 30
Now: Radio show host
I am sure what happened was, in some way, related to events in Rome the previous year. Our supporters then were pelted with stones, bricks and bottles by Roma fans [and so there may have been tension between Liverpool supporters and the fans of Juventus, another Italian team].
When the team arrived at Heysel, we noticed a lack of police presence. I felt then that the lack of segregation could be a problem. But the players were in good spirits. We walked over to the Liverpool fans, a ball was thrown over the fence and we kicked it back and forth with them.
Our changing room was next to sector Z. I wasn't fit at the time, and so at the first inclination of trouble the players asked me to investigate. Outside it was pandemonium. The wall had crumbled and people were struggling to get out. You can never forget the death of people. And my overriding memory is still of that horrific scene of people dying.
A Uefa official came into the dressing room to inform us that the kick-off would be delayed, and that four or five people had died. The more experienced players simply blocked it out. They said: 'Listen, we've got to concentrate on the game.' Others said that the match should not go ahead. In those circumstances playing the match must have been difficult for everyone.
People talk about the penalty that settled the game. Whether Gary Gillespie's foul on [Zbigniew] Boniek was inside or outside the penalty box. But we could not win that match. Juventus fans had died and we were conscious that everyone would blame the club.
In the aftermath, Uefa seemed to take their lead from Margaret Thatcher . She considered Heysel to be solely the fault of Liverpool. This made it easier for Uefa to ban English clubs for five years, without even investigating why Heysel happened. Everyone at the club felt the aftermath. It affected Joe Fagan [Liverpool's manager] in many ways. Bruce Grobbelaar considered retiring from football and nearly 20 years on many players will still not discuss it.
Liverpool had more experience of big European matches than any other team. Ahead of the game, the club's secretary, Peter Robinson, had expressed concerns about policing, security, and the stadium. You wonder why Uefa and the Belgian authorities did not listen to him. Why, for example, pick a stadium that was in a state of disrepair?
I believe many people have not accepted responsibility for what happened. And Juventus and Liverpool were forced to play the game for the sake of 50,000 people in the stadium. The authorities did not consider the people who died. That, too, was a tragedy.
Zbigniew Boniek
Then: Juventus forward, 29
Now: Polish TV commentator
I especially remember that night and it is for all the wrong reasons. Let me say it like this: if people go to watch the final of the European Cup it is absolutely ridiculous that they will never return home because they have been killed.
I did not know the full extent of what had happened before the match began. But let me be clear - the players did not want to play. The authorities ordered us to. They believed that it would prevent a war between the fans.
But the whole evening was absolutely dreadful. And stupid. I saw bodies being taken away from the stadium. It is not good to be to playing football when people are dying around you.
The fans
Otello Lorentini
Then: Juventus fan, 60
Now: President, Association of families of Heysel victims
My 30-year-old son, Roberto, was killed in Sector Z. He was a doctor and although he could have escaped when the violence began, he wanted to stay and help people. He was filmed on television attempting to resuscitate a young girl. But both of them, along with the girl's father, died. The day of the final was beautiful and sunny. Roberto, my two nephews and I began touring the city. But by midday, the main square was crammed with young Liverpool fans drinking and singing loudly so we decided to explore the side streets. Here, though, we saw Liverpool fans being arrested for stealing jewellery. This is one point I often think about: the Belgian police had warning of trouble. So why were those people allowed to die at Heysel? We arrived at the stadium at six in the evening. There were no police monitoring the English fans as they entered but it took a long time for us as we passed one by one through Sector Z's small door. There was an empty sector next to ours that acted as a buffer to the Liverpool fans. I was relaxing, reading a newspaper, when I saw a single English hooligan. He jumped over a small fence and came charging towards us. Then, many more followed. They had lumps of terrace concrete, Coke bottles, beer bottles, rocks and even knifes. Everyone panicked. There were seven or eight policemen standing on the pitch side of the fencing. We pleaded with them to call for reinforcements. But none came.
I thought we would die. Everyone moved away from the charging Liverpool fans and, in the crush, the wall collapsed. This was actually lucky because otherwise thousands may have been killed. I can still see the face of one hooligan who was about to strike me with an iron rod. I was fortunate, though, because he began hitting someone else. I turned to my son but he and my nephews had disappeared, and now I thought to save myself. I escaped through a small door at the top of the terracing and eventually found myself on the field where people lay on the ground dead. There were still no police around. Many people were trapped and dying and there is one man I cannot forget – his face was covered in blood and over these past 20 years I have dreamt about him many times. I waved Roberto's black-and-white Juventus scarf so that he could see it and then I decided to return to look for my son among the corpses in Sector Z. It was then I met my nephew. He said: 'Come quickly, Roberto is not so good.' I put my ear to my son's ears and listened. I deluded myself that I could hear his pulse. But no, he was dead. The TV cameras had been filming me and later, I watched myself find my son.
When the final kicked-off I felt very, very angry. As players were kicking a ball, corpses were being taken away. I called my wife but I just could not tell her I had lost my son, so I said Roberto was hurt. He was taken to a morgue in a military complex near the airport. I was told to identify my son and then I saw him among the dead on the floor. On one of his toes, there was a piece of paper with his name already written. I was furious. Also, his wedding ring, watch and necklace were missing. The doctor told me the ring had been cut off to identify him but then I realised a person's name is not normally on their wedding ring. When I finally returned to Italy my wife had already guessed Roberto had died. We embraced and she told me: 'Do not cry.' I told her: 'And you do not have to cry because we don't have one son in the morgue, we now have three sons.' I was referring to Roberto's two children, Andrea and Stefano, who were aged just three and one, respectively, and of course, his wife, Arianna. Did what happened at Heysel affect my relationship with my wife? No. We still go together to the cemetery and we feel Roberto is still alive and around us.
I realise what occurred is history and cannot be changed. But I would like the date of the final, 29 May, to be a memorial. And I am still angry with Juventus. They paraded around Heysel with the European Cup. Why? And not one of the players said anything about what had happened. Then, when they arrived back in Italy there were a lot of parties. Also, there is no proper memorial at the club in Turin. Yet a lot of blood poured from that Cup. What we, the families of the victims, would like is a football match to be played in June between Juventus and Liverpool. This would be fitting and it would restore the damage done.
Roberto received a Gold medal for Civil Valour [equivalent to the George Cross] for his bravery in Brussels. I still think about what it would be like if he was here.
Andrea Lorentini
Then: Three years old
Now: Sports journalist
I was three when my father Roberto died. As I grew up my grandfather gradually told me many things about Heysel and, well, I have learnt that it is incredible to die for a football match, an absurd thing. I like football, though. I support Arezzo [his home-town team] and although I have never been to a big stadium this is because I have not had the opportunity yet. And my father's death has not affected my attitude to my working life – I am a sports journalist.
I do feel anger at what happened to my father and how Juventus dealt with the tragedy. What would I like to ask the Juventus players from that night? Why did they behave like this – especially the day after? Because they knew what had happened – Paolo Rossi declared this. Now, only my grandfather and I are able to talk about what happened. My brother Stefano, my mother and my grandmother find it too painful. My father is buried in Arezzo and on 29 May my family will visit church for a mass as we do every year. I may travel to Belgium to commemorate that 20 years have passed, but I am not sure if my mother, grandmother or brother will go. It may be too painful for them.
Dave Thomas
Then: Liverpool fan and engineer, 30
Now: Security consultant
In 1985, I was living in Jersey and had travelled to Brussels with the local supporters' club. There I met some friends and, with the Juventus supporters, we enjoyed a fantastic day drinking in bars and singing songs. When we arrived at the stadium we were late. A friend and I became separated from our group and, though our tickets were for a Liverpool sector, we went in through another entrance. This took us on to the perimeter track next to the wall that had just collapsed.
The scene was horrific. There were people laid out all over the ground, many with discoloured, blue faces. I said to my friend: 'God, we've walked into the wrong end,' conscious that we were two Liverpool supporters wearing scarves among thousands of angry Italians. We wanted to leave but the security forces would not allow us. Then, among the people who had been suffocated, we saw a boy sitting with his father. I later found out the man was a bank manager from Turin called Leopoldo Lelio and his son was just 17. Leopoldo looked like he was still alive and so, although we did not know any first aid, we tried to help. We held his head, rubbed his chest, told him to breathe and reassured his son. Although I was concerned that someone could stick a knife in our backs because we were Liverpool supporters, there was no way we could leave them.
All around us, people were helping each other and it took a hell of a long time for the emergency services to appear. When Leopoldo began to revive I went to search for water and, when I returned, he was finally taken away on a stretcher, though many of the injured and dead were taken away on the crash barriers that had been used for segregation. The situation was now a little calmer. I said to my friend: 'I'm going to make my way round to the Liverpool end, because I don't think it is very safe here.' He had a ticket for a different sector, so we said our goodbyes, neither of us thinking, of course, that the match would go ahead. Again I did not have to show my ticket and, when I finally found my friends, I was in tears. I said: 'I think a lot of people have been killed and there is no way there will be a football match.' They were astonished but when the teams actually kicked off I was amazed.
The ground had a very strange atmosphere as news of what was happening spread. I then went through the motions of watching but I didn't care what happened. I wanted to leave but I'd been in Rome the year before to watch that final [Liverpool-Roma] and the Roma fans were very intimidating, so I did not want to be alone. But when, finally, the game had finished, we left the city instantly and, of course, for my wife, who was watching on television, the evening had been a nightmare because it was impossible for me to call and tell her I was safe.
Later, an Italian magazine ran a picture of Liverpool fans saying we were responsible for the deaths. I was in that picture. Leopoldo's son saw this and said: 'No, that's wrong. He is one of those who saved my father's life.' He invited my wife and I over to Italy. It was a kind invitation but we decided a trip to Turin at that time was not the wisest choice.
Who do I blame? Only the hooligans. Certainly not the authorities because you should be able to go anywhere in the world and enjoy a football match. Sure, you could argue Heysel stadium was not suitable for a match like the European Cup final, but that would only be because of the hooligan element. Did the experience put me off watching football? Yes and no. I went to a couple of cup finals afterwards, but I never watched a match abroad again.
Simone Stenti
Then: Student
Now: Vice-director GQ Italy
When the Liverpool players came out to greet their fans before the game, I could not believe what I saw. A rocket was fired into our sector and two Liverpool players applauded. I thought they were appreciating the fans' enthusiasm. But, then a second rocket was fired at us and the same two players clapped. I have my father to thank for my life. When the first Liverpool supporter charged into the sector, my father said: 'Let's go.' I did not want to, because this was the European Cup final. I said: 'Don't worry, the police will arrive and it will be fine.'
But there was only one policeman. He attempted to beat this first supporter back with his truncheon but the fan took it, hit him, and no more police arrived. We tried to leave but this was impossible because many of the invading supporters blocked the exit. Now the sky was raining stones, bottles and pieces of concrete, and we were terrified. In the crush my father and I found ourselves facing the back wall, up against a toilet that was shaped like a telephone cabin. With the thousands of people panicking around us, it was the only chance to save our lives.
My father could not move. I do not know where I gained the strength from but with one hand I managed to lift him onto the small roof of the toilet before he then pulled me up. Now we saw that the drop to the other side was around six metres. Fortunately, though, there was a smaller building three metres lower that we could jump on to and from there we could reach safety. Barbed wire blocked our way and before we jumped, my father injured his hands pulling it back.
Only now did the police arrive. But they were on the pitch side of the sector, there were no more than 20 and they were on horseback. This was ridiculous because this made it impossible for them to enter the terraces. Uefa and the authorities were just not prepared for that evening and I do not mean the terrible scene that developed. They were not ready for the European Cup final. At every big football game there are many police, but the crowd at Heysel was around 50,000 and I do not think there were 100 police. When we escaped and somehow ended up on the running track next to the pitch, it was total chaos. A kind of hell. People were covered in blood and, although they were crying, their eyes were lifeless like zombies.
Everyone from Juventus and Liverpool claimed they did not know that people had died but this is not possible because a prominent Italian journalist, Gianni Mina, whom we met near the pitch, told us that people had died. And, near the changing room area, I saw Stefan Tacconi, the Juventus goalkeeper. 'Please don't play this match,' I pleaded with him. He said nothing.
Juventus had never won the European Cup, though they had appeared in finals before. Maybe this is one of the factors that explains why they celebrated this victory and how the club then dealt with the aftermath of this tragedy.
Also, the president of Juventus in 1985, Giampiero Boniperti [he retired in 1990], was club captain for 12 years [he made more than 400 Serie A appearances between 1946 and 1961] and played many times in Europe. But he never won a European trophy. I wonder whether he was obsessed with this – Heysel allowed him to finally bring the most coveted cup to Turin. If so, he blinded himself to the events of that night. He has been asked why he and the club acted like this.
But his answers are unsatisfactory. For example, he repeats that the players did not know the true facts, that it was a real match because Liverpool competed and that the route to the final had been difficult, which made it a legitimate trophy. Yet, the day after the tragedy, Boniperti said Juventus could not count this victory until the club had won the European Cup a second time [they did so in 1996]. Until then, he claimed, the trophy would not be displayed. This would have been a symbol, at least, to mark what happened. But then he immediately displayed the cup in the trophy cabinet.
Juventus were never supportive of the relatives and failed to compensate them. And the club have never properly apologised for their reaction.
The club removed the tragedy and paraded the trophy.
The media
Eamonn McCabe
Then: Observer photographer, 36
Now: Guardian portrait photographer
I was taking photographs of Juventus fans when I noticed a red wave [Liverpool fans] move behind the goal at the opposite end. At that point, I thought it may just have been one of the many skirmishes I'd photographed before at football matches that are forgotten once the whistle is blown.
But just in case I ran to the other end. As I arrived, the wall broke. With a wide-angle camera I use for trophy ceremonies, I shot two frames of the wall breaking before I stepped away. As a journalist one thought is to document the story, the other is to avoid becoming an obstruction.
Nobody knew precisely what was happening. I felt that I was recording, initially, an 'old crumbling stadium can't handle football supporters' kind of story. I was, though, aware that many of the people on the terraces seemed to be caught up in an event they were unfamiliar with. They did not appear to be football hooligans. Their first thought was to escape. Initially, they ran to the back of the stadium before realising there was a sheer drop there. Then, they headed for the pitch and disaster.
I continued taking photographs. People were being taken away on crush barriers. The emergency services were prepared for the odd illness or injury, not for what occurred.
People often ask how I can shoot people dying. Well, I felt incredible pressure to record what occurred. It is possibly the same motivation war journalists feel. But the tragedy certainly lived with me for years. I had seen dead bodies before but I always remember the blue colour of those at Heysel. Strangely enough, when I was picture editing Hillsborough [where 96 people died as a result of the 1989 disaster] I became more upset about Heysel. It was an unwanted reminder.
Giancarlo Galavotti
Then: Journalist, 38
Now: Gazzetta Dello Sport's London correspondent
I was sitting in the press box with my colleagues from Gazzetta when the problems started to develop in front of us. I do not think that the Belgian police were equipped to deal with this kind of situation. The riot police were outside the stadium, those inside the sector ran once the Liverpool fans started to attack them, and at one point those on the pitch actually prevented people from escaping over the fencing.
Once the crush started, people managed to emerge on to the pitch. Some lay down because they were breathless, some attempted to revive other people, others eventually made their way up to the press box and asked to use our telephones to contact their families in Italy to assure them they were alive.
In those days the police could not figure out what they would have to face and how to control it. It was only after Heysel that governments and police authorities throughout Europe began to join forces against football hooliganism. The Belgians were taken by surprise, like others before and after.
The game had to be played to prevent further riots, but the Juventus victory was hollow. It should not have been celebrated.
Barry Davies
Then: Football commentator, 47
Now: BBC broadcaster
As Bobby Charlton and I waited to begin commentary, we were unaware that the wall had collapsed but we did know there was a problem. In London, Jimmy Hill was about to link to our show from the Wogan programme and he was informed to temper his introduction.
I was very careful in what I said. I did not want to alarm people who may have had family or friends at the match, but it was difficult. I had turned up to report a football match and found myself reporting on a tragedy that would last for several hours.
One problem was having no opportunity to investigate what was happening. Information was passed around but we had to make sure, for example, that the numbers of dead were correct. Another difficulty was being unable to see some of the pictures the BBC cut in as the evening progressed.
I recall asking: 'Who are these British people who come here and cause problems?' That was surely a question some viewers were posing. There is no doubt, though, that if there had been a greater awareness of the potential problems ahead of the match, the tragedy could have been avoided.
I spoke to Michel Platini later. He was very unhappy about the penalty. He didn't think it was legitimate and Juventus did not want to win that way.
I said: 'Frankly, everyone in the media wanted the game over in 90 minutes. The last thing we wanted was extra time and the thought of a penalty shoot-out after that.'
I was absolutely sickened that football had become such a battleground. Without question it was the darkest experience of my career.
With hindsight it was a massive challenge for which there was no preparation as a journalist. Unless you were a war correspondent. Nobody expected anything quite like Heysel.
The police
Bill Sergeant
Then: Detective Chief Inspector, Merseyside police, 46
Now: Retired
I am a Liverpool supporter and, with my son, attended the match as a fan. We had just entered the ground when the trouble began. It was some time before we knew what was happening and we were not aware of just how serious events were.
Our sector and the one occupied by the supposedly neutral fans were separated by a flimsy chicken-wire fence. There were, though, Belgian police officers on the majority of the steps between the supporters. There have been suggestions that the trouble was initiated by a single fan, but I am rather sceptical of that.
It is true that there were only a very small number of so-called Liverpool supporters involved. The majority remained where they were. We had to watch the antics of around 100 hooligans charging back and forth. I found this particularly frustrating because the Belgian police did not take the sufficient positive action required.
Because the spectators retreated so quickly (and I can understand their fear), the hooligans had a large area of terracing. The police found this difficult to cope with. I had seen many disturbances in England – usually following football matches – but I obviously never expected what resulted at Heysel. I am confident that British police – without riot gear – could have done far better. Indeed, 20 Liverpool doormen would have stopped it in very little time.
I then led the investigation. We had 17 minutes of film and still photographs to attempt identification of suspects. TV Eye produced an hour-long programme featuring the footage and the national press also published photographs. This drew a positive response and we then checked possible suspects against police records, undertook surveillance and searched homes. In some cases, unbelievably, we found items of clothing – that suspects could be seen wearing on the TV footage – hanging on lines.
We then made 27 arrests on suspicion of manslaughter – the only extraditable offence applicable to events at Heysel – of which 60 per cent were from Liverpool and the remainder from places that ranged from Aberdeen to Ipswich. Some already had convictions for football-related violence.
It was not, though, easy to convince the Belgian authorities (not the police) that this was the correct way to proceed. At one meeting it was suggested we should merely invite the offenders to go to Belgium. When I doubted such an invitation would be accepted, I was told this would not be a bad thing because the hooligans would be unable to visit Belgium for fear of arrest.
I was not convinced, though, that this was sufficient punishment and eventually the government made a formal extradition request. Why were they so reluctant? Maybe because Belgium was a small country completely unprepared for what had happened and there were murmurs about the inadequacy of segregation, the state of the stadium and the actions of the police. Unfortunately, there was no legal provision for extradition to Italy because I am sure it would have been dealt with differently there.
Even then, the Belgian legal process still allowed those arrested to return to the UK, which some people did even after they had been convicted and were awaiting sentence. To my knowledge, not a single person ever served his sentence.
My investigations never indicated any evidence of extreme right-wing instigation or co-ordination of events that night. The then Liverpool chairman, John Smith, had been quoted suggesting this. I interviewed him and he claimed he had been misquoted.
In my opinion, the tragedy resulted from a drink-fuelled aggressive response by Liverpool 'fans' to what they felt was unacceptable behaviour by Juventus supporters. They did not believe the Belgian police were protecting them.
We have moved on since 1985, with stricter segregation and all-seat stadiums. What a pity, though, that it took Heysel (and Hillsborough) to rid football of some of its serious problems. But, as recent outbreaks of racist chanting and post-match disturbances indicate, there is still some way to go.
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